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London Buses route 38
London Buses route 38 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Clapton Pond and Victoria, it is operated by Arriva London. The route is the most frequent in London with a bus every minute during the morning peak. History Route 38 was introduced on 16 June 1912 as a Monday to Saturday route between Victoria and Leyton Green via Angel, Dalston, Clapton and Lea Bridge Road and between Victoria and Epping Forest on Sundays. It was operated from Leyton garage, which opened on the same day. In 1913 a 38A was introduced, taking over the Sunday service and operating between Victoria and Epping Forest. World War I restrictions saw many changes to routes 38 and 38A including withdrawals over certain sections for short periods. The most important of these occurred on 15 May 1916 when the 38 and 38A exchanged their eastern branches permanently. Route 38 was withdrawn between the Bakers Arms and Woodford and re-routed to Walthamstow (Hoe street station). In 1919 a 38B was added, running through to Loughton, with the 38A only running as far as Woodford. The 38A disappeared in 1921. On 1 December 1924, a new system of route numbering on London Buses came into force under The London Traffic Act of 1924. Route 38 was unchanged; route 38B was renumbered to 138. Both routes had short working suffixed journeys numbered 38A, 38B, 38C, 38D, 138A, 138B as well as 38E, which was the main daily route Victoria Station to Chingford. This situation remained until 3 October 1934, when the newly constituted London Passenger Transport Board instituted its own numbering system. The 38, 38A and 38E became plain 38. The 138 became 38A. From 5 January 1938, on Mondays to Fridays only, route 38 was reduced between Leyton and Chingford and route 38A withdrawn completely. In replacement a route 38B was introduced between Loughton, Woodford, Leyton, Walthamstow and Chingford. From 3 August 1938 route 38B was withdrawn, and routes 38 and 38A returned to normal. As a wartime economy routes 38 and 38A were re-routed between Clapton and Dalston on the direct route via Cricketfield Road (avoiding Hackney) on 5 May 1943. On 15 April 1959 route 38A was re-routed via Hackney Central station to replace withdrawn trolleybus route 581. From 1946 until 1965, route 38 also had a summer Sunday extension from Chingford station to Epping Forest via Rangers Road and Epping New Road. Following the opening of the first section of the Victoria line between Walthamstow Central and Highbury & Islington; on 7 September 1968 a large scale re-organisation of London Buses took place. Route 38A was withdrawn, being replaced by three new routes; Red Arrow route 505 between Victoria and Piccadilly Circus, route 48 between Dalston and Whipps Cross and route 20 between Leyton and Loughton. Between Dalston and Hackney route 38A was also replaced by a re-routed 38, which was cut back from Chingford to Walthamstow Garage, being replaced by route 69 over this section. On 25 October 1969, route 38 was further cut back to terminate at Leyton Green, being replaced on the Walthamstow section by the newly introduced route 55. The Sunday service was converted to one-person operation on 6 June 1987. When London Buses was divided into 11 subsidiaries operation of route 38 was taken over by London Forest. On 24 February 1990, the 38 was controversially cut back on Mondays to Saturdays from Leyton Green to terminate at Clapton Pond. It was replaced over this section by the newly introduced route 56. London Forest was wound up in 1991; the route then became a joint operation between Leaside Buses and East London, before being transferred to Leaside Buses. The Sunday service through to Leyton Green was withdrawn from 19 July 1997. On 2 June 2002, the Sunday service was converted back to crew operation. In preparation for the introduction of the London congestion charge, in July 2002 peak hour frequency increased. On 29 June 2005, route 38 was converted to one man operation with the AEC Routemasters replaced by brand new articulated Mercedes-Benz O530Gs. On 14 November 2009, the Mercedes-Benz O530G were replaced by Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s and Wright Gemini 2 bodied VDL DB300s. The allocation was moved to Clapton garage (CT) at the same time. In February 2012, the eight prototype New Routemasters entered service operating from Ash Grove (AE) garage. On 10 May 2014, the route was converted to full New Routemaster operation. On 29 September 2014, the Ash Grove (AE) allocation moved to Clapton (CT) garage. On 5 November 2016, the route was retained by Arriva London. Current route *Clapton Pond *Hackney Downs Station *Hackney Central Station *Dalston Junction Station *Essex Road Station *Islington High Street *Angel Station *Holborn Station *Tottenham Court Road Station *Piccadilly Circus Station *Green Park Station *Hyde Park Corner Station *Victoria Bus Station External links *London Bus Routes Gallery *Full Timetable (PDF) 038, London Buses routes